50 Ways to Serve During the Christmas Season

If there’s one thing we make a priority of in our lives, it’s serving others. And there’s never a better time than the holiday season to bump that up a notch and really go above and beyond to help those in need.

While we strive all year long to make this a consistent effort in our family, the Christmas season offers even more opportunities to do really fun things for others around you and to really make a difference in someone’s life who may be having a hard time during what should be the most wonderful time of the year.

Make a bunch of homemade Christmas cards and deliver them to your local homeless shelter.

Volunteer at local food bank on the weekend.

Prepare a holiday meal and deliver to a family in need (you can find a family through your church or asking around to neighbors who might know someone in need).

Make a care package with homemade baked goods and a Christmas card for a soldier spending the holiday overseas (go HERE to make sure you are shipping it correctly). You can find a solider HERE.

Go to a local nursing home and sing Christmas carols.

Take a walk around the neighborhood and pick up any trash or debris you may find.

Pack a shoebox of goodies for a child in need. You can drop them off HERE.

Find a family in need and give them gifts of necessities they might need (socks, shoes, coats, gloves, etc).

Go through your children’s books and donate any books they no longer use.

Deliver a holiday meal to someone in a local nursing home.

Make some homemade Christmas ornaments and pass them out to your neighborhood with a voucher offering services you can help them with like raking leaves, shoveling snow, mowing grass, clean out gutters, etc.

Go to the local children’s hospital and sing carols with them.

Volunteer at a homeless shelter and bring in Christmas cookies.

Buy diapers and wipes and donate them to your local pregnancy crisis center.

Find a single parent and offer a night of babysitting for free so she (or he) can have some time to shop alone or TAKE A NAP!

Make a care package for a few teachers at a local school that includes a Christmas card and a thank you!

Organize a food drive.

Pack up some board games and head to your local children’s hospital to play games with the kids there.

Prepare a meal and take it to a random family in the NICU at your local hospital.

Find a missionary family and send them a care package full of goodies for the holiday.

Go through your clothes and donate anything you don’t want to a local homeless shelter.

Donate your time to help clean up the city park.

Make a care basket and take it to a local chemotherapy office.

Prepare a small box of cookies and a Christmas card. Give to your garbage pickup workers as they come by.

Go to your local hospital and deliver some holiday goodies to families spending their days there.

Buy a handful of food gift cards (McDonalds, Subway, Wendys, etc) and drive around your city. Give them to the homeless.

Organize a garage sale and donate all the profits to a local charity.

Buy someone lunch without telling them.

Pick up a few coffees and deliver them to any EMT’s you see parked and waiting for the call.

Prepare a care basket with goodies and cards. Drop them off to a fire station.

Clean out your closet and donate any shoes you no longer wear.

Adopt a family this Christmas instead of exchanging gifts.

Drop off a warm coffee, new gloves and a new hat to a Salvation Army bell ringer.

Find a local organization that helps the disabled and donate your time.

Prepare a care basket with goodies and a card to drop off to a Veteran.

Find a family in need and pay their electric bill this month.

Send a note of care and love to a family who has recently lost a loved one.

Buy and deliver groceries to an elderly person in your neighborhood.

Organize a week of overnight accommodations for the homeless in your area (like at a local church).